Spaghetti
by retsk65
Summary: When a very young Papyrus gets buried by heavy snow during a blizzard, he almost freezes to death. It's up to his big brother Sans to save his life. With the help of a certain friend, it could be possible. But Sans, as thanks, makes a promise with them that he may or may not be able to keep in the end.


Sans. Sans the Skeleton. The name had always rang to him. Like a title of some sort. But achieving said title and becoming notorious was always pushed to the side. For now, he just had to settle for "brother". Yeah. That sounded much better.

Light emitted from the barren refrigerator in the skeleton's house. His eye sockets seemed to burn from the brightness against the house's pitch darkness. Several bottles of ketchup lined the shelves. A half gallon of milk had been overturned and left to spoil. Sans wretched at the scent. He shuttered as he closed the fridge. Snow and hail rained down upon Snowdin, as it had been for days upon days. Sans watched out the window as trees fell prey to the blizzard and small pellets of ice knocked at his walls. Not a single monster could be seen for miles.

Sans turned to face the quiet interior of his house. "Hey bro." he called. "You hungry?"

No reply.

"Hey Pap. Snow might let up soon. I'll get you whatever you want from Grillby's. Promise."

The house seemed like it was quieter than before.

"It...it sure is BONE CHILLING out there."

Where Papyrus would usually groan, prolonged silence took it's place. Sans stuck his head out the door, squinting at the frost whipping at his face.

"Hey, you out here? You'd probably be warmer in here." He said. Papyrus' lack of response triggered a feeling of panic deep within Sans' bones. "Hello? Papyrus?" He called helplessly. After what seemed like an eternity of trekking around the perimeter of the house, he came across a bony hand sticking out from underneath a thin layer of snow.

Papyrus.

Sans frantically threw the snow off his baby brother, hands shaking. A tear escaped an eye socket. Papyrus lay in his brothers arms completely frozen. Sans choked back more tears as he ran himself and his brother inside. "Heh..." he whispered. "I found you, I guess...it's ok. it's going to be ok. Brother Sans will fix it."

Sans took his favorite red scarf-the warmest one-and wrapped it snugly around Papyrus. Flipping his hood up, Sans went back outside, sprinting as fast as he could towards the ruins. He held his small brother under the flaps of his jacket, glancing down at him every few minutes to check on him.

Tears continuing to stream down his face, Sans began to pound on the door of a certain lady he would trade puns with from time to time. She readily rushed to the door to ask who stood on the other side. When Sans identified himself, the door was swung open, and the two skeletons entered.

Sans dropped to his knees, panting. "Heh. As much I'm glad to be meeting you in person and all, miss...I really need your help." The goat-like woman took Papyrus in her own hands and placed him on the enormous armchair. The patchwork chair stood by the fire place, absorbing any heat that rose up from the fire. It was a surefire way to make any sitter feel warm and cozy.

"Oh dear, what have we here?" The woman asked, placing a gentle and furry hand on Papyrus' small cheekbone. "My brother here..." Sans paused to catch his breath. "He played in the snow for too long...a-and it all just piled up so fast...h-he couldn't keep up with it." Sans shook with anxiety. "It just...it just covered him right up." Sans' body threatened to implode as he sunk to the ground in grief. "I can't lose him...I can't lose him..." He repeated. "It will all be alright, Mr. Sans. I promise." The woman calmly replied. "I have plenty of hot food on the stove. I will bring some right away. Stay here with your brother."

Sans rushed to his brothers side and slid in next to him on the armchair, for it was plenty big for the two of them. He embraced his still-cold younger sibling, pulling him close to his ribcage. A heart seemed to beat within the older brothers chest, telling feelings of worry and love. The woman walked in with a large bowl of an unidentifiable, but pleasant smelling food.

"Here we are-a fresh bowl of spaghetti. Family recipe! People have said it can work miracles." Sans certainly hoped so. The woman spooned buttery noodles into the skeleton's mouth, assisting him in swallowing as well. As more spaghetti was fed to him, Papyrus' eyes began to flutter open, blinking a few times to adjust to the new lighting. Sans took notice and beamed. "Pap? Pap, you did it! You're here and alive, my man!" Sans hugged Papyrus even tighter.

Papyrus coughed a few times. "Sans? Where are we? And...what am I eating?" He managed to say, gesturing to the bowl in the woman's paws. Sans laughed as he dried his eyes on the back of his hand. "Spaghetti, bro. That's spaghetti."

"Well it's super, super good! Bet you I could even go into Royal Guard training if I ate this every day! Nyeh heh heh!" The child skeleton exclaimed. Sans smiled down at him.

"Heh. Yeah. I bet you could."

The next morning, the two brothers stood the woman's basement door once more, now hand-in-hand.

"Toriel was it? I just gotta say...thank you. Thank you for everything. Without you, my brother might have frozen to death. And I...I don't what I would do without him. So thank you. I owe you one. Or two." Toriel laughed lightly. "Oh, don't you worry about it. But I do have one request, if I may speak to you alone for one moment." Toriel pulled Sans aside and quietly whispered to him.

"All living beings on this earth deserve love and kindness and care. Monsters below...humans above...And I want you to promise me that if a human is ever to cross your path, protect them will all your might. Protect them as if they were your family. But don't do it for me, do it for all of monster and humankind. I believe in you, Sans."

Sans flashed his signature grin in her direction. "It's a promise, Toriel."

It had been two weeks since the young Papyrus' life was threatened by the menacing blizzard. He had fallen ill (however skeletons do that) and much to his dismay, was being kept inside at all times by Sans.

"Sans! You have to let me out! I-*cough*"

"No way José little bro. See how sick you are? Nuh uh. Nope."

"But Saaaaaans! *sneeze*"

"Hey. Don't let it _get under your skin_."

"I don't even know what you're talking about!"

Exchanges like this happened several times a day for the two. Over time, Papyrus gradually became more sluggish and Sans stayed by his side for the entirety of the day. Cough. Sneeze. "Saaaans!". The cycle continued nonetheless.

"Papyrus, you need anything?" Sans would ask. "Spaghetti." Papyrus would, without fail, always respond. Thus began the skeletons' household always being stocked with boxes of spaghetti. Toriel's claim of her spaghetti being able to work miracles seemed to be coming true for the recovering Papyrus. Remembering how it was the food that brought him back from unconsciousness, it quickly became his absolute favorite food. One day, when he was allowed to use to stove, he was determined to learn to make it for himself. But until then, Sans made it almost every day for him. A true "spaghettore" according to Papyrus.

Weeks passed. With Sans' help, Papyrus fully recovered. Sans always made sure to visit Toriel at least twice a week once Papyrus fell asleep in order to share more puns, thank her again, and ensure that he remembers his promise to her and will carry it out no matter what as thanks for saving his brother-his only living family member.

Years passed. Papyrus grew and began formal training with the strong and authoritative head of the royal guard, Undyne. She ended up eventually giving him cooking lessons as well. It was no surprise that the first thing he demanded he be taught to make was spaghetti. Sans would often look at Papyrus and smile, just being happy that they are able to be there together. He remembers the close call they had several years back and the determination that lingered to repay Toriel with the promise. He truly was a lucky skeleton to have Papyrus as a brother.

More years passed. Low and behold, a small human wandered into Snowdin. Sans spotted them from afar and made his way over. The first human to ever wander into the town in decades-this was the small human that Sans knew he was going to protect with everything he had.

...

...

The slow rush of water echoed throughout Waterfall. Where Shyren, the monster who just wanted to sing, used to stand, a pile of dust sat motionless on the ground. The small human stood over it, watching with soulless eyes. A short, hooded skeleton watched intently from behind a rock. He cursed to himself as tears once again poured from his eye sockets. It was all too familiar.

"Toriel..." He whispered. "I'm sorry, but...I think I'm going to have to break that promise of ours. I hope you can understand." The skeleton began to quietly sob into the fabric of a red scarf that was once again his. He looked up briefly to see the human skipping away from the scene. His eye lit up with anger as his fists clenched.

"Someone's about to have a really,

really

bad

time."


End file.
